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Do Growth Kinetics of Snow-mold Fungi Explain Exponential CO2 Fluxes Through the Snow?

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Plant and Microbe Adaptations to Cold in a Changing World

Abstract

Plant pathogenic snow-mold fungi have received much attention for many years due to their economic importance, but the identity and activity of nonpathogenic fungi of the under-snow environment have received much less study. In polar and alpine areas of the world, mats of saprophytic snow molds are commonly observed as snow melts in both forested and tundra biomes. Recent biogeochemical studies in high-elevation and high-latitude environments have shown conclusively that microbial activity under the snow pack contributes significantly to gas fluxes and to carbon and nitrogen cycling. In addition, Schmidt et al. have demonstrated that nonpathogenic snow-mold fungi are among the dominant organisms of the sub-nivean environment and carry out important ecosystem functions in tundra and forested ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to M. M. Gebauer, K. L. Wilson, and A. F. Meyer for assistance in the laboratory and D. R. Bowling, R. K. Monson, D. A. Lipson, and N. Trahan for helpful discussions. This work was supported by a grant (MCB-0455606) from the Microbial Observatories Program of the National Science Foundation of the USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, 80309, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    Steven K. Schmidt, S. R. Frankel, R. L. Wagner & Ryan C. Lynch

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  1. Steven K. Schmidt
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  2. S. R. Frankel
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  3. R. L. Wagner
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  4. Ryan C. Lynch
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven K. Schmidt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Crop Breeding Research Division, NARO Hokkaido Agricultural Research Center, Sapporo, Japan

    Ryozo Imai

  2. Crop Breeding Research Division, NARO Hokkaido Agricultural Research Center, Sapporo, Japan

    Midori Yoshida

  3. Silviculture & Forest Ecology Studies, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Agriculture, Sapporo, Japan

    Naoyuki Matsumoto

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Schmidt, S., Frankel, S., Wagner, R., Lynch, R. (2013). Do Growth Kinetics of Snow-mold Fungi Explain Exponential CO2 Fluxes Through the Snow?. In: Imai, R., Yoshida, M., Matsumoto, N. (eds) Plant and Microbe Adaptations to Cold in a Changing World. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8253-6_21

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